sidux

Template:Infobox OS sidux is a desktop-oriented operating system based on the "unstable" branch of Debian, which uses the codename Sid. The distribution consists of a Live CD (bootable CD-ROM) for IA-32 or x86-64 architecture and can be installed to a hard drive through a graphical installer.

sidux is maintained by a team of developers including former Kanotix developer Stefan Lippers-Hollmann (slh). Initial administration was managed by The sidux Foundation, Inc. located in the United States. Now the Berlin, Germany based non-profit organization sidux e.V. is administering and supporting the project.

Features

sidux is based on Debian's most modern branch, sid. It includes a comprehensive manual and a collection of tools and scripts to make desktop administration easier. sidux's own repository avoids packages which are currently defective in Debian Sid by temporarily uploading corrected packages to the sidux repository until a fixed package propagates into sid.

One of sidux's more notable features, unlike most other Linux distros, sidux utilizes a true 'rolling-release-cycle', and thus continues to remain current. Users can update all of the system's packages via the command 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. Through this model, there should not, in theory, ever be a need to overwrite a sidux system by installing an entirely new version. Other Linux distributions that use the rolling release model include Arch Linux and Gentoo.

Live CD - DVD - USB

Each sidux release comes as a Live CD or Live DVD, booting to a graphical desktop without installation. On the Live CD a USB installer is provided to create a Live USB system.

Installer

The graphical installation can be started directly from live mode, without rebooting. sidux can be installed to USB-connected hard disks and USB flash drives, as well as to internal hard disks.

Updates

Once sidux is installed, it can be kept up-to-date with updates from the Debian Sid and sidux repositories. Updates are typically run from command line using apt-get. Because post and pre install scripts in the debian packages may restart your display manager during updates and cause conflicts with running userspace applications, it is recommended that users upgrade their system outside of X (i.e. while NOT running the 'GUI'). This is achieved by applying all updates at 'run-level 3'.

Warnings regarding upgrades are posted on the main website and in the Upgrade Warnings section of the forum.

Support

• The forum is also a good place for questions and talks, however the reaction time is longer, but it is a good source for searches.

Multilingual

The default language of sidux releases is English, however German, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Greek, English (GB), French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (BR and PT), Romanian, Russian and Spanish localisations (i18n support) are also provided within the DVD, selectable at boot prompt.

Currently 2009-05-24 the manual is available in 16 languages: DE Deutsch, DA Dansk, EL Greek, EN English, ES Espanol, FR Français, HR Hrvatski, NL Nederlands, PL Polski, PT-br Portuguese-br, RO Român, RU Русский, JA Japanese / 日本語, IT Italiano, BG Bulgarian (Български), HU Hungarian (Magyar).

Packages

sidux comes with a selection of programs, covering system rescue and web surfing. To mention a few: KDE / Xfce desktop, openoffice, iceweasel, amarok, digikam, gparted, gwenview, k3b, kaffeine, koffice, krita, krusader, sane, vdr, virtualbox, wireless-tools, xawtv, yakuake, ...

The complete package list is available for each release in the download directory, named <release-name>.manifest.

Releases

The releases were usually available in 4 CD versions, however since release 2007-04.5 a fully equipped DVD and two light CDs will be offered here. Since 2008-02 also an ~420 MB large Xfce variant is available. DVD Versions at the end of a year contain more programs and preinstalled languages.

Colour	Meaning
Red	Old release; not supported
Yellow	Old release; still supported
Green	Current release
Purple	Test release
Blue	Future release

Release	Name	Date	Info
2007-01	chaos "Χάος"	2007-02-22	sidux 2007-01 release
2007-02	tartaros "Τάρταρος"	2007-05-28	sidux 2007-02
2007-03	gaia "Γαια"	2007-08-14	sidux 2007-03.1 hotfix
2007-04	eros "Ερως"	2007-11-21	sidux 2007-04
2007-04.5	eros "Ερως" (Christmas-Special)	2007-12-26	sidux 2007-04.5 christmas special
2007-04.5 DVD	eros "Ερως" (DVD)	2007-12-30	sidux DVD released
2008-01	nyx "Νυξ"	2008-04-12	sidux 2008-01
2008-02	erebos "Ερεβος"	2008-06-25	sidux 2008-02
2008-03	ourea "Ωυρεα"	2008-09-22	sidux 2008-03
2008-04	pontos "Ποντος"	2008-12-23	sidux 2008-04
2008-04 DVD	pontos "Ποντος"	2008-12-31	sidux 2008-04 DVD
2009-01	ouranos "Οὐρανος"	2009-02-14	sidux 2009-01
2009-02	aethēr "Άιθηρ"	2009-07-15	sidux 2009-02
2009-03	momos "Μώμος"	2009-11-11	sidux 2009-03[8]
2009-04	moros "Μόρος"	2009-12-31	sidux 2009-04
2010-01	Hypnos "Ύπνος"	1st quarter 2010

Derivatives

Like many other Linux distributions, sidux has spinoffs, mainly versions of different languages. Some to be named here:

• celtux - Irish, Irish/Gaeilge localization
• Deb-on-Air - French localization
• myrinix - Digital Home Edition
• sid-icewm-edu - educational version
• lxde-sid-lite - resources saving graphical system, for use in netbooks, like eeepc

Name

The name of the distibution sidux is derived from Debian Sid (Named after the Sid Phillips character in Toy Story - who destructively experiments with his sister Hannah’s toys.) and the common use of -x for Unix derivatives. The names of the releases are taken from the Greek mythology.
When typed or written, sidux is always presented in lower-case letters.

History

Due to incompatible opinions, a group of former Kanotix developers, accompanied by many users, divided from the Kanotix-project to continue the former goal of Kanotix in a new project with a defined declaration.

The sidux project appeared on 2006-11-24, with the goal of providing a hard disk installable Debian Sid-based Live CD distribution.

The first sidux preview appeared on the 2007-01-24 with the finished release appearing on 2007-02-22, codenamed 2007-01 “Χάος"(chaos).

In February 2007 sidux was awarded by DistroWatch with the donation of US$350.

The second sidux Live CD was released on the 2007-05-28, codenamed sidux-2007-02 "Τάρταρος"(tartaros).

During the linuxtag 2007 (an open source fair in Berlin) a special linuxtag-edition was distributed at the shared booth of KDE e.V. and sidux.

On the 2007-05-31 sidux e.V. (foundation) has been officially registered with the German authorities.

On 2007-11-15 sidux e.V. was accepted as Non-profit organization by German law, retroactively as of 2007-04-01.

Software

sidux releases contain only free software as defined by the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). To aid proof of compliance, a monolithic tarball containing the source for all packages used in the release is provided alongside the Live CD ISOs. Access to non-free software such as codecs, plugins and wlan firmware can be enabled by configuring contrib and non-free Debian and sidux repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list

In keeping with the evolutionary nature of the "unstable" Debian branch, sidux releases do not provide an upgrade path from previous release versions. Rather, once sidux is installed, incremental updates are performed via regular "dist-upgrades". The idea of a sidux "release" is instead to improve Live CD hardware support, performance, flexibility and reliability, built from the current debian unstable repository..

System recommendations

sidux is officially supported for the i686 computer architecture.

AMD K6 and VIA C3 Samuel and Ezra cannot be supported^{[citation needed]} because they do not support the full i686 instruction set (missing CMOV support).

sidux e.V.

For permanent support and financing - on 2007-04-01 the non-profit association "sidux e.V." , seated in Berlin, Germany, was founded. Its constitution and goals go beyond the aims of the support and spreading of sidux.

See also

• Debian
• List of live CDs
• Live CD
• Live USB

External links

Official

• Homepage
• Wiki
• Forum

Articles

• Distrowatch: Interview with Chris Hildebrandt, the sidux project
• Article on lwn.net

Reviews

• desktoplinuxreviews.com (July 16, 2009)
• Linux.com (Oct. 8, 2008)
• LinuxPlanet.com part 2/2 (July 10, 2008)
• LinuxPlanet.com part 1/2 (July 3, 2008)
• Linux.com (Mar. 7,2008)
• tuxmachines.org (Aug. 23, 2007)

Other

• sidux on DistroWatch